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StarCraft II Rated Adults-Only in Korea

To say StarCraft is huge in Korea is putting it mildly. The sci-fi real-time strategy game owes a lot of its success to Korea, and for that reason, Blizzard chose to officially announce the sequel in that country way back in 2007. So when the decision by Korea's Games Rating Board came down the other day, designating StarCraft II for gamers 18 years and older, disappointment must surely have spread thru the Blizzard offices. The decision was even more surprising since an earlier version of the game was rated 15 years and older. Blizzard requested a re-evaluation of the game, this time of the release candidate (RC), hoping to achieve the 12 years and older rating the game received from North America - that re-evaluation has seemed to backfire.

According to an official from Korea's Games Rating Board, "Considering that the RC version of the game is closer to what will be sold on the shelves compared to the beta versions, we looked more carefully at the content." The Games Rating Board cites the "game's level of violence, foul language and depiction of drug use."

Blizzard now has 30 days to file an appeal, but the company has not decided if it would do so just yet. Blizzard could opt to adjust the content in question, as it apparently did with the first game, but that could substantially delay the game's release, which surely wouldn't sit well with the rest of the world, if such a delay wasn't limited to Korea.